Dunn and Done

Growing up, Bradley Dunn exclaimed that he would never play that position. Watching his father’s club lacrosse games and seeing the goalie get shot on repeatedly was enough for him. He wasn’t interested. But just a few years later, Bradley found himself doing the exact opposite. He was in the goal screaming at the other team to try and score on him.

“It was just a rag tag group of kids that had never played before,” said Bradley of his seventh grade Valley Springs lacrosse team, “and I kind of took to it like a pig in mud.”

And there it began, the son of a midfielder and younger brother of an attack man, Tyler. Bradley couldn’t get enough. His father, Mr. Jim Dunn, played division three lacrosse at Rochester Institute of Technology and claims that aside from interest, he has nothing to do with Bradley’s ability.

“I was a bench sitter at a division three school for my time,” said Mr. Dunn, “I’m probably the only college lacrosse player that ever held a roster spot because I had my bus license, because I really didn’t play a whole lot.”

It’s actually a funny story, but we’ll let Mr. Dunn get into that on a later date. Today, our story is on Bradley and his true belief in Jim Valvano’s words, “Don’t give up…don’t ever give up.”

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On the wall in his bedroom are five major goals – be happy and enjoy this semester, be healthy and organized, finish the semester with a 3.8 GPA, get a job he’s passionate about and win a division one national championship. And Bradley has never left a goal unaccomplished.

He wanted to go to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“He’d been wanting to go to Chapel Hill probably before he picked up a lacrosse stick in middle school,” said Mr. Dunn. And so, in his years at the Christ School in Arden, NC, Bradley did everything in his power to make sure he’d get in to UNC.

He was a member of the honor council, was the lead in several school theatre productions, was active in community service projects, was a Senior Prefect and was named a Headmaster’s Scholar.

By the end of his senior year, he was a Morehead-Cain Scholarship semifinalist for UNC. He was going to school in Chapel Hill.

Check.

“He’s always been a self motivator and if he sees something he wants to accomplish,” said Mr. Dunn, “he’ll make sure that it happens one way or the other.”

He wanted to surpass all of Jamie Locke’s records.

A fellow Christ School varsity lacrosse goalie, Jamie was a senior for Bradley’s freshman year. And while Bradley would go on to start at goalie for the varsity squad for the following three years, his focus was on breaking the milestones and following in the footsteps of Jamie.

“I wanted to break his save record, I wanted to break his clearing ratios, his goals against records, everything like that,” said Bradley. And beat all of his records, he did, but not without the help of one Jeff Miles, who gave Bradley upwards of 500 shots a week.

“Talent is just a pursued interest. And I think most of my thanks go to Coach Miles. If you’re getting those kinds of reps, you’re going to become pretty decent at playing goalie,” said Bradley.

And he was right. Bradley was All-Conference, All-State and made the Adidas All-American team by his senior year.

Check.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever quit something that I didn’t have a genuinely good reason to quit,” said Bradley, “I think the worst I’ve ever done is postponed it.”

He wanted to play varsity for Chapel Hill.

But those weren’t the end of Jamie’s milestones that Bradley was after. Upon graduation from high school in 2007, Jamie went on to walk-on to the varsity squad for John Haus, head coach for the Tar Heels 2000-2008.

“So I broke all of his records and I was like, alright, the next thing I’ve gotta do is make it to Carolina. I figured I had all of the credentials,” said Bradley.

But there was a coaching change. Joe Breschi joined the Tar Heels for the 2009 season, just one year before Bradley’s blunt attempt to walk-on to the varsity team.

“He kind of boldly went and met with Coach Breschi,” said Mr. Dunn, “and said, ‘You’ve graduated one of your seniors and I want that spot.’”

“We were getting up at 5a.m. and going out. And I think it was a weeklong try-out. Saw a lot of shots, was involved in all of the practices, and they were cutting people,” said Bradley, “By the end of it, it felt like I had a shot.”

But then the email came. No explanation or discussion of ‘maybe next time.’ Just ‘no.’

Postponed.

“Bradley is the type of kid that is very resilient. And sure, disappointed but realized that there are so many other great things to do at Chapel Hill,” said Mrs. Denice Dunn, “And I think he’s one of those kids who likes to take advantage of everything he can.”

So Bradley found himself in other activities.

In the fall of his freshman year, Bradley pledged at Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity. He concentrated on his studies and joined the club lacrosse team.

“It was an opportunity to play and it was fun and I made a lot of friends through it, but it was always a constant reminder that I wanted more,” said Bradley, “and I expected more out of my college lacrosse career.”

He wanted to play varsity for Chapel Hill.

“Club motivated me to try out again my sophomore year,” said Bradley. And this time it was a try-out full of goalies. Translation, it must have meant that the team was looking for another goalie.

“I felt like this year I had a better shot at making it. And then I was kind of the last goalie standing; I think it was after two weeks of practicing with the team. And Coach Holman walked up to me and basically said we want you to be a part of the team in some capacity, but we don’t know a way yet.”

In the end of his second try-out, Bradley was offered a manager’s position, but politely declined.

“I wrote to Coach Holman basically saying that if I do become a manager, it’s doesn’t mean that I’ve given up on my goal of becoming a UNC lacrosse goalie,” said Bradley, “It was just another step in the right direction for me, and that’s the only way I’ll see it.”

Postponed.

“I pretty much considered that the end of my line. Kind of like the death of a dream,” said Bradley, “Throughout my freshman and sophomore year, it was really the first thing that I had strived to do, I mean really strived to do and didn’t accomplish it.”

But while Bradley saw another ‘no’ as one step in the wrong direction, the Dunns saw it as an opportunity to grow in other ways.

“I think, through it all, we always look at the things that are going right,” said Mrs. Dunn, “And certainly his grades and getting into the business school and the other goals he had set for himself, were such big and positive pieces of his life, and knowing that he still had the ability to play on the club team.”

But for Bradley, even being successful at everything else, it still wasn’t enough. Club wasn’t enough.

“You’ve got to have faith. You’re going in the right direction. And I met a lot of great people, and my grades are probably a whole lot better, and I got into the business school, so a lot of things fell into place because I didn’t make the team,” said Bradley, “It’s devastating. It’s something that you wanted and it feels like it’s stripped from your hands.

“Junior year, it kind of seemed unrealistic that I would ever make it on the varsity team, and every time I went out there (to play club), it was like ‘This isn’t what I signed up for.’ I had pretty much put the final pile of dirt on top of the dream grave.”

He wanted to play varsity for Chapel Hill.

On March 24, 2013 Bradley received an email from the director of men’s lacrosse operations, Stephen Toomy, which would quickly change his grave digging.

“There was an email from Toomy saying that they needed me to come on the team for at least a week and play goalie,” said Bradley, “and these weren’t the types of emails I was used to getting from these coaches.”

The Tar Heels, who had started the season with a four-man deep goalie corps, suffered several injuries in the first eight games of the season. Redshirt senior Steven Rastivo was out for the year with his third concussion, freshman Duncan Saunders was redshirted for two knee operations, and redshirt sophomore, Andrew O’Connell, suffered his third concussion in warm-ups of the March 23rd Maryland game, making him ineligible for play.

“We were down to one goalie, our starter, but one goalie. So we end up, on the way home (from the Maryland game), we called him up and said, ‘Hey, do you want to be on the team?’” said Coach Breschi, “Not even try out, do you want to be on the team.”

“I think this is kind of where you see all of the things that happened before fall into place,” said Bradley, “I got my name out there two years in a row, they knew I wanted to do it, they knew I was committed.

“I had an opportunity twice to show them what I was made of and that I had what it took to play. And, had I not done that, there’s no way I would’ve been presented with this opportunity. And then it all fell into place and I was on the team.”

Check.

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“At the time I didn’t know how long I was going to be playing for. I was willing to go through the 20 or 30 hours worth of EKGs and paperwork and insurance cards and everything like that, to play for a week,” said Bradley, “to be on the team for a week and two games. 

But it turned out to be so much more than that. Following Bradley’s joining; the team went on the play Brown, Johns Hopkins, Virginia and Hofstra, all with Bradley as the back-up goalie to freshman standout Kieran Burke.

“Nobody expected him to see action,” said Mr. Dunn, “but we (his extended family) were all going to go to the (Hofstra) game anyway.”

Bradley, a New York native, had recruited his own fan section of relatives to cheer for him as he cheered on his teammates. But, of course, it didn’t happen that way.

“I said, ‘Brad, you’re in,’” said Coach Breschi with 3:12 left on the clock. “The whole bench went nuts. And then one of their players comes down the field and just unloads from 10 yards.”

What happened next was nothing but a dream. Bradley made the stop. There’s debate about whether he exploded towards the ball or ducked away from it, but either way, the ball was in his stick and not in the back of the net. And when the ball is flying at you from an average of 80-90 mph, neither one matters. He made the stop.

“All of the parent group,” said Mr. Dunn, “were just going wild like they had won the championship and it was just over one little save that a third string goalie made.”

Bradley might have only seen a little over five minutes of playing time in the 2013 season, but that did very little to define his time on the team.

“Going into the ACC Championship, it was like so many crazy things have happened to me, thus far, I wonder if we’re going to pull out an ACC Championship and a national championship. For me it was just like a hopeful goal,” said Bradley, “Everything was already gravy.”

And while the team won the ACC Championship over Virginia, their season ended in the second round of the NCAA Tournament when they lost to Denver by just one goal.

“I thought for sure that that was the end of my run,” said Bradley, “And when we got back to Chapel Hill from Indianapolis, I went to Coach Breschi’s office for our end-of-the-year meeting and Coach Breschi basically told me, ‘All I can guarantee you is that we can give you another try-out in the fall.’

“And, I knew how try-outs had worked for me in the past.

“So it was back to square one over the summer. I worked out all summer and got as big as I’ve ever been and worked out and did what I thought it took and came back in the fall. I tried out all fall, worked out all fall,” said Bradley, “and I mean fall ball is the most grueling thing I’ve ever been through.

“It’s four days a week of the most intense workouts I’ve ever been through in my entire life. And if you’re looking for moments to quit, there’s thousands of them.”

And by the end of fall ball, there wasn’t just a spot on the roster for Bradley, but a locker, a placard reading Brad Dunn, an endless supply of lacrosse gear and a #38 jersey.

“There was no question I was keeping Brad,” said Coach Breschi, “For how much he meant to our team last year, just like coming out of the bullpen to be a guy on the team and such a positive player on the team, not matter what his role was, was fantastic.”

Bradley’s role as back-up goalie is to act as a scout player for the starters, emulating the movements and tendencies of the opposing team’s goalie. He has even been asked, at times, to play as a left-handed goalie. Though that doesn’t seem all that positive for Bradley’s health.

“It definitely makes you feel like you’re part of a team and that your role may not be as glorious as some,” said Mr. Dunn, “but they take a lot of pride in that behind-the-scenes role and preparation.”

Preparation that involves five to six hours of weekly film, and a forty page scouting report that has everything short of the opposing team’s social security numbers.

“It’s definitely rough to watch on the sidelines,” said Bradley, “but I would say I’ve learned more humility from being on the varsity lacrosse team than I have anything else.

“I think it’s easy for scout players and players that are not really guaranteed to get any playing time to get down on themselves and feel bad, and those are the guys that I’m around the most. So I like to think that I can boost their spirits.”

“He’s been a good teammate and a role player and just a guy who accepts his role and loves being a part of the team,” said Coach Breschi, “He appreciates it so much and I think that’s, to me, that’s the coolest thing because some take it for granted, what they have, and Brad certainly doesn’t. He’s Brad.”

And so Bradley is going into his final games as a Tar Heel, boasting a perfect saves record in his five games at UNC. He’s beaten Jamie, gone to UNC, made the varsity squad; he’s happy, healthy and held a strong GPA.

But he’s still not done.

He wants to win a national championship.

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This article was written in compliance with the instructions of my creative sportswriting class.